


serious man points

by dayevsphil



Series: dayevsphil commissions [5]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2012 Era (Phandom), Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Gender Roles, Introspection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23738626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dayevsphil/pseuds/dayevsphil
Summary: Usually it's a comfort to know that Dan can be good at things that Phil can't be, but right now Phil feels useless.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Series: dayevsphil commissions [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1682980
Comments: 34
Kudos: 168





	serious man points

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dizzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dizzy/gifts).



> for mandy ♥ i had a lot of fun playing with this moment in canon, and i hope you like where i went with your prompt!
> 
> reblog on tumblr [here!](https://dayevsphil.tumblr.com/post/615850545063870464/serious-man-points)

"Maybe if you scale down the wall like Spider-Man, you can get our downstairs neighbour to let you in."

"And maybe you should grow wings and jump out the window," Dan says dryly. "Or don't grow wings. Just fall. Whatever."

"Oi, don't be mean," says Phil. His anxiety is compounded by the fact that they're basically stuck here until they can figure out how to reattach the handle to their bedroom door, but he's also _so_ tired. He's been considering just going to sleep and letting Dan figure it out. There are a lot of problems with that plan, though, not least of which is the fact that Dan definitely wouldn't let him do that. "The meaner you are, the more I'll want to eat you when I get hungry."

Dan looks over just to roll his eyes where Phil can see and then turns back to the door. He's been trying to get the handle to stay in long enough to open the door, and Phil thinks that the focus is probably pointless. If it didn't work an hour ago, he doesn't see why Dan thinks it'll work now.

With a heavy sort of sigh, Phil swings his legs out of bed and starts looking around his room. He probably definitely doesn't have anything in here that's sharp and heavy enough to pull a The Shining on their door, but it makes him feel like he's helping. If he's ostensibly searching for a solution and not complaining or sleeping, Dan can't lecture him. Well, yes, he can. And he will. 

Phil is on his hands and knees, peering under his bed, when he finds something that might help. "Aha!"

"What?"

"This could do something, probably," says Phil, wiggling the unopened box out from under the bed. He brandishes it to Dan with a smile that feels slightly manic. "I don't know what, but it's a tool."

"You're a tool," Dan mumbles, but there's no real heat behind it. He takes the cordless hammer drill from Phil and starts reading the instructions on the back. Phil feels a bit useless again, just kneeling on their floor and watching the cogs in Dan's brain turn. In his defense, it's nearly dawn. "Okay, we definitely can't put the handle on with this. But I think we can take the door off its hinges? Not fucking ideal, but at least I won't get eaten."

Phil pulls at a loose thread in his pyjama pants and keeps watching. Dan doesn't know how to use a power tool any better than Phil does, but he's a quick learner when he's determined. Dan opens the box and starts pulling out instructions and pieces that he has to attach himself.

Like basically any other task, Dan talks through it. Phil has never been sure if Dan is talking to himself or to Phil, or some combination of the two, but he listens anyway. He listens and he watches and he offers small comments and some batteries when Dan starts complaining about the lack of them. It doesn't escape Phil's tired, anxious brain that his dad would have fixed the problem already. His brother, too, probably. If Phil had been alone in here when it happened, he'd probably just wait until the morning and call the landlord to come rescue him. He'd never think to assemble a power drill he's had in its box for years and pull his bedroom door out of its frame.

Usually it's a comfort to know that Dan can be good at things that Phil can't be. Dan doesn't mind calling to make appointments or telling people off when they're being rude at the cinema or making a proper grocery list so they don't come home with nonsense, and all of that makes him a great boyfriend and a great flatmate. Phil has his own things that he does for the two of them, too. It isn't one-sided.

Still. Right now, he feels useless. Phil helps by holding the door in place while Dan uses the drill on the hinges with his tongue trapped between his teeth in concentration, and that's as much as he can do.

"Ha!" Dan exclaims, helping Phil lean the door against their bedroom wall. There is a hole where the door should be, now, and Dan is beaming with pride and relief. Phil smiles back at him, but he still feels an anxious knot in his tummy.

"That was sexy," Phil teases, wiping the sweat from Dan's forehead.

"So manly," Dan agrees. He's joking, and Phil can tell that he's joking, but it makes Phil realise _why_ he's still all tangled inside.

It was a manly thing to do, is the thing. It was the sort of thing that a man should be able to do.

\--

Dan leaves the reattachment part to the professionals, and they simply don't have a bedroom door for a few days. That's fine, really - they live alone and don't often have visitors anyway. The only real difference is Dan's insistence on keeping the hall light on so that he isn't spooked by the darkness after Phil's fallen asleep.

The guy their landlord sends to fix their door and its handle is stocky and loud, the sort of bloke-y guy that Phil has always felt awkward around. Dan disappears into his filming room as soon as he's able to, but Phil hovers in the hall in case the repair guy has questions. Not that he thinks he'd have any answers, really, but it's the principle of the thing. He keeps his hands in his pockets as much as possible, because they're fiddling anxiously with his fringe otherwise. He always feels weird about things like his hair and his jeans in front of guys like this, even though the guy seems nice enough and barely even glances at Phil before working on the door and telling stories about similar repairs he's had. 

By the time Phil flops onto their spare bed, he's exhausted. He feels like he's been pretending to be a different person for hours rather than just politely laughing at a stranger's jokes.

Dan's fingers trail off the keyboard, and he gives Phil the sort of exasperated smile that he always does when he knows Phil isn't going to stop whatever behaviour has caused it. "Hey, you. We've got a door again?"

"Sure do," says Phil. "The man was very talky."

"That's what you get for standing out there and letting him talk to you," Dan says, rather gently. He joins Phil on the bed and wraps around him like an octopus. It's probably not the most effective grounding technique in the world, but it always helps anyway. "Is that all that's bugging you?"

Phil shakes his head. He traces shapes just under the hem of Dan's shirt at the small of his back. "Is it weird that I'm not... I dunno. A real man?"

"You are a real man, idiot," says Dan. His tone still isn't harsh, but he isn't shy about reaching down to cup Phil through his jeans. "You've got a major prerequisite right here."

"Get your hand off my dick," Phil says, his lips twitching. "I'm too tired."

After a cheeky squeeze, Dan does as he's told. He grins at Phil and shrugs. "Just saying. Anyway, there's no list of things you have to do to be a man. Including having a dick, I guess, but I -"

"It's just us. I know you're not making any grand statements. Besides," Phil adds, "I'm pretty sure you just wanted to grope me."

"You can't prove anything. And my point stands. Fuck anything that makes you think you aren't a man, Phil, it's all just made up anyway. Three and a half billion men aren't going to have a, like, specific list of things in common or whatever, and anyone who tells you that it's evolution is lying. You've just got a picture in your head of some imaginary 'typical man' that you've been told you should be like because of our stupid societal norms."

Phil can't help smiling. "I think you're spending too much time on Tumblr."

Dan hits him. "I think _you've_ been spending too much time with some internal shit about what your family told you was normal. Just be Phil. I like Phil. I mean, usually."

"I can manage that," Phil says with a little laugh. He presses his lips to Dan's temple and tries to override that familiar anxiety about what he ought to be. If he were different, if he could easily do things that men 'should' be able to do, he wouldn't have Dan. He thinks that's probably a fair trade.

**Author's Note:**

> a HUGE thank you to mandy! and also to chicken and puddle for reading it over and helping me with the details, y'all are the best!


End file.
